Well, I looked at the Mordor site, and it had a register button beside WB Play, in there lies a link for "What is WB play" And it seems to be something like Ubisofts current Uplay, where its bonus exclusive content and social services. Looks like it will sell it as well, but likely it will just be steam keys or something. Curious. Maybe the article could do with an update.
WB Play: Is Warner Bros. Secretly Developing a Steam Competitor?
- Thread starter Josh Engen
- Start date
what else could it be?Darth Sea Bass said:
I mean I would never say never but creating an "actual" competitor to steam is more than just selling games, people like all their shit to be in the once place, not just games but profiles and freinds and such
all thease things can be is DRM
I know that the first isn't likely happening, but if the first condition isn't fulfilled, the second one can't be neither. If they don't allow all publisher and they don't pull their games from Steam, I don't see anyone using WB Play. Why would you make a new account just so that you can play games which you could have played on your steam account which you probably have if you're a PC gamer.gigastar said:
As for EA pulling games, yeah, them not releasing new games is my problem. Not that they released anything I'm really interested in enough to make a Origin account if they were on Steam and on sales, I might have gotten some of them.
Pretty much everyone who put any thoughts into digital distribution called it. I remember all the slippery-slope arguments against Origin saying that if Origin is successful all big publisher will start releasing their own platforms and pulling the support from other.XenoScifi said:
While it is technically a logical fallacy, it still have grounded roots which are starting to show.
Well, this is what happens when these companies don't try to manage their finances better or prepare for the future properly. I really don't get why these guys just don't manage their budgets better and slow down a bit. It seems to me the majority of big name publishers and developers turned stupid and narcissistic and due to having three gens of wanting for nothing when they hit any sort of problem they push it onto gamers. I'll just wait until companies stop being to wasteful and incompetent.BiH-Kira said:
Odd... I can still buy Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age: Awakenings, Mass Effect 1, and Mass Effect 2 on Steam. Dragon Age 2 was pulled because EA released new DLC for it and it didn't abide by the "new DLC policy" that Valve instituted, so to me both companies are at fault.Hoplon said:
I personally welcome more competition to the marketplace for then maybe Steam will start changing their anti-consumer practices they have been implementing recently, at least with Origin I can get a refund on any EA published game and I don't have to sort through all the new releases that are unfinished Early Access games that probably won't ever be done.
Oh fucking yay! Another company making yet another content distribution platform which will inevitably piss me off and be terrible because it will most likely sell only one companies products. It will also have teething problems for ages (as is to be expected) and may or may not get better. Whoop-dee-doo.
It's stupid and unnecessary.
Origin got every so slightly better recently, yet it's still terrible and I only have it installed because I have to for a couple of games and Uplay is just terrible with no redeeming qualities. There's no way *if this really is a WB content distribution service* that it will also be terrible, right?
It's stupid and unnecessary.
Origin got every so slightly better recently, yet it's still terrible and I only have it installed because I have to for a couple of games and Uplay is just terrible with no redeeming qualities. There's no way *if this really is a WB content distribution service* that it will also be terrible, right?
Competition to Steam is good. this wont be one though. this will be more like Origin - holding content hostage to sign in. and surely it will be plagued like Uplay with messages "Thank you for choosing Uplay". no, not choosing, being forced to.
That beiing said, WB knows shit about anything that isnt 20th century moeygrubbing so this will definatelly be a bad idea.
That beiing said, WB knows shit about anything that isnt 20th century moeygrubbing so this will definatelly be a bad idea.
Jim is love. Jim is life.Evil Smurf said:
Ohhh, god... another one?
And this is from a publisher that likes to hold offline content hostage for pre-orders and day one sales, and makes dozens of retailers exclusive DLC. If you thought EA and Ubisoft weren't bad enough...
This is getting really crowded. Last Ubisoft game I played from Steam actually installed uplay, and not the game launches uplay instead of the actual game. Needless to say, it was a cumbersome and awful experience just getting it to run...
And this is from a publisher that likes to hold offline content hostage for pre-orders and day one sales, and makes dozens of retailers exclusive DLC. If you thought EA and Ubisoft weren't bad enough...
This is getting really crowded. Last Ubisoft game I played from Steam actually installed uplay, and not the game launches uplay instead of the actual game. Needless to say, it was a cumbersome and awful experience just getting it to run...
Why is competition to Steam even a needed thing? They're not Time Warner or Comcast. They haven't pulled an evil monopoly on us. Gabe is still alive and spending his money on hats instead of Dr.Evil-style world domination plots, so we're not screwed just yet.
I agree with what that other guy said. No new service to come out all of a sudden is going to be as good or better than Steam with its 10 years of iteration.
First time I fired up Farcry 3 I got off the Steam sale, I saw some Uplay advertisements splash on my screen instead, and I thought to myself "A whole new set of advertisements and hustle-ware from the same people who made the game I haven't even played yet, but am currently trying to; inspired. Oh look at that, my achievements are going to be unlocked on this Uplay shit that neither I nor anybody else are ever going to look at, instead of on Steam where everything else is, fantastic. These are the qualities I look for in my videogame distribution services, thank you."
I like to think of these companies like robots in suits trying to imitate people. They see Steven McSteam going about making big fistfulls of cash, and since their stockholdercompliance.exe files tell them to imitate the same behavior, they start their day by eating a breakfast and chugging orange juice but soon after start short-circuiting, and fall to the floor emitting sputtering noises and smells of burnt toast.
I agree with what that other guy said. No new service to come out all of a sudden is going to be as good or better than Steam with its 10 years of iteration.
First time I fired up Farcry 3 I got off the Steam sale, I saw some Uplay advertisements splash on my screen instead, and I thought to myself "A whole new set of advertisements and hustle-ware from the same people who made the game I haven't even played yet, but am currently trying to; inspired. Oh look at that, my achievements are going to be unlocked on this Uplay shit that neither I nor anybody else are ever going to look at, instead of on Steam where everything else is, fantastic. These are the qualities I look for in my videogame distribution services, thank you."
I like to think of these companies like robots in suits trying to imitate people. They see Steven McSteam going about making big fistfulls of cash, and since their stockholdercompliance.exe files tell them to imitate the same behavior, they start their day by eating a breakfast and chugging orange juice but soon after start short-circuiting, and fall to the floor emitting sputtering noises and smells of burnt toast.
My problem with single company run distribution centers is that there is no means to think that they're trustworthy. Why risk bad reviews on Steam when you can wall your supply in your backyard and kick out anyone who even remotely speaks ill of it?
Product reviews become worthless, sales too. Pretty much nothing is gained by taking your ball and going home save maybe, MAYBE a more solid launch for your games. Maybe...
When I have to debate on loading a new digital distribution platform for a few games, I start to compare the games price and hassle to if I want to just wait it out till it's in a Humble Bundle. Few games are so important that I don't lean to the wait it out option..
Product reviews become worthless, sales too. Pretty much nothing is gained by taking your ball and going home save maybe, MAYBE a more solid launch for your games. Maybe...
When I have to debate on loading a new digital distribution platform for a few games, I start to compare the games price and hassle to if I want to just wait it out till it's in a Humble Bundle. Few games are so important that I don't lean to the wait it out option..
It wouldn't surprise me in the least to find out that WB is planning on creating it's own digital distribution service. When it comes to any sort of electronic media, this is fast becoming the most popular method to buy games, music and movies. Now, I certainly support a free market and I think companies should have the liberty to sell their products how they see fit. On the other hand, I have to question if a trend of having multiple distribution services will be a good thing for the consumers.
On the up side, having multiple distributors means that the market can be competitive. Much like with physical merchendise, different companies can offer different deals to try and entice customers to use their service instead of others. On the -other- hand, it can also create a problem with video game developers, movie production companies and others witholding their digital products from other distributors, instead only distributing their products from their own distribution service. Arguably they could do this with physical merchendise too, but the catch there is they'd have to expend the time and money to build stores, hire and maintain the staff, and so on. The cost of creating and maintaining a digital distribution service, I have to imagine, is much less in comparison.
So why would this be a problems? Two reasons. One, it would create a pseudo-monopoly. While it's true if every developer or producer had their own service, it wouldn't mean you could only get games/movies/etc. from that one service, it WOULD mean you could only get those brands of games, movies, etc. from them. If you could only buy WB games from the WB service, then they can set whatever price they want on them, because nobody else is going to have WB games on their digital roster. Same goes for any company that produces their own digital products. So yes, you could buy a video game from someone else if you think Company A's prices are too high...but if Company A is the creator and owner of your favorite franchise, you're either going to have to find a new favorite franchise or bend over and brace yourself.
The other reason is that to access a digital distribution service, customers have to have an account and profile set up. If you think you have a lot of these things set up now, just imagine having to have not just a Steam and Origin account for games, but a WB account, a Bethesda account, a Capcom account, a Naughty Dog account, an Id Software account, an Eidos account, a Tripwire account, and so on. It would become a nightmare; you'd be tossing out your personal information to so many companies hackers could throw a dart at a wall to pick one of a dozen companies to try and crack to get at your credit card or bank account numbers. Admittedly it may be a bit late to start worrying about that. Between the existing digital services like Steam, Origin, Amazon.com, eBay, PayPal, and so on, there's already quite a few choices out there. But even taking that into consideration, do we really want to add to the problem with individual companies taking away the convenience of one stop shopping from us?
I guess the summary of these concerns is that when the developer becomes the distributor, you run the risk of the company abusing that position. I think this was one of the initial (and likely ongoing) complaints about Origin; EA charges full price for a lot of various digitally available titles, even though cutting out the need for physical media and packaging has to provide for at least SOME savings. Given the behavior of a lot of game devleopers - and when you stop and think about it, movie producers too - their attitude towards their customers can be rather dubious at best, parituclarly the "mainstream" ones. And they're the ones that will have the money to spend on getting programmers to create a digital media service as well as maintain administration staff for it.
I don't want to get behind GameStop with its childish whining about the growth of digital sales of games, especially when - as Jim Sterling has pointed out - they get right in bed with the companies that take part in digital sales by making deals with them to offer exclusive pre-order features available only at GameStop outlets. However, there is a grain of truth to some of the complaints. While I think digital distribution services are a great boon to buying digital media, it wouldn't take much to make the whole system blow up in the consumers' faces. I think the key here is to continue suppording second party digital distributors like Steam. When more than one distributor offers the same products, that's when we get more competitive pricing and more effort in customer service in order for the distributor to maintain our patronage. Granted it's not a perfect system, but it's better than the risk caused by leaving it all in the hands of the game developers and movie producers that, as of late, have shown a lack of regard for their customers through their questionable business practices and products made with a distinct lack of effort or quality control.
On the up side, having multiple distributors means that the market can be competitive. Much like with physical merchendise, different companies can offer different deals to try and entice customers to use their service instead of others. On the -other- hand, it can also create a problem with video game developers, movie production companies and others witholding their digital products from other distributors, instead only distributing their products from their own distribution service. Arguably they could do this with physical merchendise too, but the catch there is they'd have to expend the time and money to build stores, hire and maintain the staff, and so on. The cost of creating and maintaining a digital distribution service, I have to imagine, is much less in comparison.
So why would this be a problems? Two reasons. One, it would create a pseudo-monopoly. While it's true if every developer or producer had their own service, it wouldn't mean you could only get games/movies/etc. from that one service, it WOULD mean you could only get those brands of games, movies, etc. from them. If you could only buy WB games from the WB service, then they can set whatever price they want on them, because nobody else is going to have WB games on their digital roster. Same goes for any company that produces their own digital products. So yes, you could buy a video game from someone else if you think Company A's prices are too high...but if Company A is the creator and owner of your favorite franchise, you're either going to have to find a new favorite franchise or bend over and brace yourself.
The other reason is that to access a digital distribution service, customers have to have an account and profile set up. If you think you have a lot of these things set up now, just imagine having to have not just a Steam and Origin account for games, but a WB account, a Bethesda account, a Capcom account, a Naughty Dog account, an Id Software account, an Eidos account, a Tripwire account, and so on. It would become a nightmare; you'd be tossing out your personal information to so many companies hackers could throw a dart at a wall to pick one of a dozen companies to try and crack to get at your credit card or bank account numbers. Admittedly it may be a bit late to start worrying about that. Between the existing digital services like Steam, Origin, Amazon.com, eBay, PayPal, and so on, there's already quite a few choices out there. But even taking that into consideration, do we really want to add to the problem with individual companies taking away the convenience of one stop shopping from us?
I guess the summary of these concerns is that when the developer becomes the distributor, you run the risk of the company abusing that position. I think this was one of the initial (and likely ongoing) complaints about Origin; EA charges full price for a lot of various digitally available titles, even though cutting out the need for physical media and packaging has to provide for at least SOME savings. Given the behavior of a lot of game devleopers - and when you stop and think about it, movie producers too - their attitude towards their customers can be rather dubious at best, parituclarly the "mainstream" ones. And they're the ones that will have the money to spend on getting programmers to create a digital media service as well as maintain administration staff for it.
I don't want to get behind GameStop with its childish whining about the growth of digital sales of games, especially when - as Jim Sterling has pointed out - they get right in bed with the companies that take part in digital sales by making deals with them to offer exclusive pre-order features available only at GameStop outlets. However, there is a grain of truth to some of the complaints. While I think digital distribution services are a great boon to buying digital media, it wouldn't take much to make the whole system blow up in the consumers' faces. I think the key here is to continue suppording second party digital distributors like Steam. When more than one distributor offers the same products, that's when we get more competitive pricing and more effort in customer service in order for the distributor to maintain our patronage. Granted it's not a perfect system, but it's better than the risk caused by leaving it all in the hands of the game developers and movie producers that, as of late, have shown a lack of regard for their customers through their questionable business practices and products made with a distinct lack of effort or quality control.